The Journey of the Chosen One: Indigo League
by AllThingsWonderful
Summary: Ash Ketchum sets off on his journey at 12 with a resolve to be the very best, to attain the rank his father once held of Pokemon Master. But with a new criminal syndicate fighting with Team Rocket, and a war brewing among the legendaries, will he even survive to make it to the Indigo League? REWRITE OF THE JOURNEY OF THE CHOSEN ONE. RATED FOR MINOR VIOLENCE AND LANGUAGE
1. Prologue

**Welcome to the rewritten prologue of The Journey of the Chosen One: Indigo League! This story is not to be confused with The Journey of the Chosen One.**

 **This chapter is rated T for mentions of death.**

 **Prologue**

It was a beautiful morning in Pallet Town. The sun was shining through the sparse clouds and the spring breeze rustled the long dew covered grass. The sunrise was always a spectacle in this town, and the tranquil silence emanating from the sleepy town only amplified that effect. It was always quiet in the morning here-

The shrill cry of an infant pierced the air around the Ketchum residence, jolting Delia Ketchum awake. She glanced at the digital clock on her bedside table, which said 5:58 AM.

Delia got up with a groan and went to her child's bedroom. It was too early for this.

It turned out that little Ash didn't have anything really to cry about. His diaper was clean, and he wasn't hungry or thirsty. That didn't stop him, though, from crying hysterically for a few hours.

Delia had no choice but to sit by the crying infant for the rest of the otherwise beautiful morning.

'Red would know what to do.' Delia thought. Red Ketchum, Delia's husband and Ash's father, was the current champion of Kanto. He used to be a Pokémon Master, or a champion of at least seven regions. But both Red and his Pokémon were past their primes and they'd been losing championships until the only one that Red had left was the championship of Kanto. As Champion of Kanto, though, he still had many responsibilities. He had to, for instance, lead raids on terrorist bases as the head of the G-Men. That was where he was now, in fact.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

The raid was going poorly, to say the least.

Red and the rest of the party had successfully infiltrated the Rocket Base on New Island, and were heading towards the labs when they were ambushed and surrounded. Red's Pokémon cut down one Rocket Pokémon after another, but it wasn't enough. There were just too many of them.

There was one thing that was bugging him about this, though. The Rocket forces were prepared for this battle, very much so. It was almost like they knew that the raid was coming there. Red took that train of thought and ran with it as he watched his Pokémon in action.

'How would the Rocket forces know that we were coming?' Red pondered as his Pikachu leapt from Pokémon to Pokémon with Iron Tail. 'It's impossible to decrypt our communications without a key, and they couldn't have known otherwise without a spy.'

Red arrived at a conclusion. 'Either way, it would be impossible for them to know without a man on the inside.'

The champion of Kanto fingered a pokeball on his belt. He hadn't used the Pokémon inside of it yet, for fear of collateral damage, but now he had no choice.

Red released the Pokémon inside and held the keystone mounted on his wedding ring.

"Charizard! Mega Evolve!"

A bright light began to emanate from the wedding ring, one that mirrored the light coming from Charizard's Mega Stone, Charizardite. When the light died down, Charizard was now a powerful fire/dragon type with black scales and blue fire streaming from its mouth and tail.

Red returned all his other Pokémon (except his Pikachu, which got into Red's pack) and got on Mega Charizard X.

The black and blue blur blew (Say that three times fast) through the lines of Rocket Pokémon.

The Pokémon flew through the building until it came to the labs, where there was a skylight. Mega Charizard flew through the glass and flew away from the compound. It looked like they were home free, noted Red, as he observed the brilliant sunrise.

Red looked back at the building. There were automated turrets donning the perimeter of the compound, but they were all disabled prior to the attack.

The only turret not disabled by the attackers whirred to life. Seeing the fleeing Pokémon and human, it targeted and fired, instantly killing Mega Charizard and Red.

The onboard computer logged the shots as "Two shots fired at 5:58 AM" before powering off.

The bullets did nothing to stop the momentum of Red and Charizard, though. Pikachu wisely stayed in the backpack, and was not shot at. The backpack somehow got thrown off of Red, and went flying in a modified trajectory towards Pallet Town.

Red's body went flying off somewhere else, never to be found.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

It was a shock to Delia, to say the least, for Red's backpack to suddenly land in her front yard with a dying Pikachu inside.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Time passed. Ash made friends, and he lost friends, but throughout most of his childhood, Ash only had one friend, by the name of Gary Oak. However, on his tenth birthday, he and Gary had a huge argument that almost turned into a fistfight.

Now without friends, Ash turned to the only thing he had left: school.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

It was another beautiful spring day, just a week from Ash's 11th birthday. School had just ended for the day, and Ash walked into the forest to study. Spring was always his favorite time of the year, not just because of his birthday.

Halfway to his favorite spot to study, he heard something. It sounded _exactly_ like somebody (or something; he didn't know what kind of Pokémon could be found in these woods) stepping on a twig.

Ash looked behind himself, but he didn't see anything. It must have been nothing, Ash decided as he shrugged and continued walking.

 _Snap_

There it was again! Somebody was sneaking up on him!

Ash looked down next to where the twig was snapped. If he could make out the footprints...

There! The footprints went from the snapped twig to behind a bush. It looked like whatever was following him was behind the bush.

Ash tiptoed to the bush, and looked behind it. Nothing. How disappointing-

 _Snap_

Ash whirled around and saw a short blue bipedal Pokémon dart behind a bush. Ash frowned. He didn't think that any Pokémon like that lived around here. He didn't actually recognize the Pokémon, so he pulled out a book that sorted all known Pokémon by body type and color.

Ash looked up blue bipedal Pokémon, and matched the Pokémon he saw to a Pokémon called "Riolu." According to the book, Riolus were native to Sinnoh, so Ash wondered what one was doing in southern Kanto.

Ash looked up from his book to see the Riolu dart away back into the bush. Or, the Riolu would have darted back into the bush, if it didn't trip on a root and fall on its face.

Ash felt like he was supposed to say some sort of one-liner, but instead started giggling.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

More time passed. Throughout a complicated game of charades, Ash figured out that the Riolu was following him because Ash had a "really strong Aura," whatever that meant.

Even with the language barrier, Ash and Riolu became the best of friends.

Ash and Riolu helped stop a stampede of Tauros, and helped Professor Oak capture a Pikachu that was eating the lab's power lines.

Painfully slowly, the day that Ash was set to leave on his journey approached.

Eventually, the night before Ash left came. This was, coincidentally, a week after his 12th birthday.

He would get his starter, a choice of Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle, the next morning at 10. (Even though Riolu was technically his Pokémon, he still had to get a starter from Professor Oak to start his journey.) He just couldn't be late.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"I'm late!"

Ash was panicking. He was already a few hours late, and the lab was across town. If he ran across town, without bothering to eat or change out of his pajamas, he might make it by one in the afternoon.

It was just so unfair. He was so prepared for this, packing a bag for his journey and setting his alarm for seven in the morning. Unfortunately, a freak power outage caused his digital alarm clock to reset.

Ash threw open his bedroom door, and ran down the hallway to the stairs. Ash started sprinting down the stairs, but made it exactly one step before tripping over his own feet and falling the rest of the way. Undeterred by the fall that was certainly going to bruise, Ash sprung up to his feet at the bottom of the stairs and ran past a startled Delia and out the front door.

Finally, after almost an hour of running, Ash arrived at the lab. Taking a deep breath to steady himself and quell his excitement at finally starting his journey, Ash walked up to the door and reached for the knob before it was opened in his face by none other than Gary Oak.

 **END PROLOGUE**

 **So? What do you think? This prologue is more than twice (almost three times) the length of the original prologue, and it (in my opinion) introduces the story much better.**

 **I decided to do this rewrite because I really wasn't satisfied with the original at all, particularly the early chapters.**

 **Tell me what you think in a review! Was it good? Tell me** ** _why_** **it was good. Was it bad? Tell me** ** _why_** **it was bad. Was it better that the original? Was it worse? Don't leave me hanging!**


	2. Spearheading a New Journey!

**Hello!**

 **Wow. The response to this story has been simply explosive. Thank you guys so much!**

 **If anybody knows of a better cover image for this story, please let me know. I don't really like this one, but it's the best that I could find. Thank you for helping!**

 **Sorry for taking so long to update. School has started and I can't find any time to write. The length of this chapter didn't help, either.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **The Bloody Seje: Yes, of course. This chapter, unlike the prologue, is not a summary of a long length of events.**

 **UltimateCCC: Almost anything would be luckier than what happens to Ash today.**

 **Dodgers3: Thanks!**

 **Thor94: Due to possible spoilers, this review has been replied to in a PM**

 **Illusionist Owl: Thank you so much!**

 **"** **Guest": Thanks for the feedback!**

 **Ace Trainer Jessie: Thank you!**

 **Darkworkangel: Thanks!**

 **My Karno: Thank you!**

 **Xider: I'm not sure what I was thinking with Red's Pikachu, actually.**

 **Most chapters I write will probably be around the 3k-5k range (the prologue was about 1k words). I'm trying my best to make them longer, but I probably won't be able to get most chapters above 10k words for a little while. They won't all be as short as the prologue, but don't get your hopes too high. Sorry!**

 **"** **Guest": Thanks!**

 **AlphaBlackWolf21: Thank you! (Sorry if this seems a little repetitive; there are only so many ways that I can say thanks.)**

 **CHAPTER 1: Pokémon! I choose you!**

The front door of Professor Oak's lab, slammed into his face by Gary, knocked Ash down the stairs in front of the door and on to the ground. Gary, either not noticing or not caring, walked down the stairs and stepped on Ash's fingers on the way to the road. Ash slowly picked himself up and watched as Gary got in his fancy sports car and drove off, followed by his army of cheerleaders.

"Sorry about Gary. He just was so excited to start his journey that he forgot to look where he was going," Professor Oak said, standing at the door. "Please, come in and rest for a bit. I trust that you ran all the way here?"

"Yes, Professor," Ash managed to get out between heavy breaths. "Thanks, but I really have to get going on my journey. I don't want to get left behind!"

"Very well. To get your starter you'll have to come in anyway, so please come in."

Ash relented at this, and went through the front door and into the building. Ash followed the Professor into the classroom, which had the three starters. Ash only made it a few steps into the carpeted room, seeing that there was only one starter left, before he fainted from exhaustion and fell on his face.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Ash slept for another two hours, exhausted from running for an hour. He finally opened his eyes at almost exactly three in the afternoon.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Ash slowly opened his eyes. What happened? Why was he on a couch in the lab?

"Welcome back to the world of the waking, Ash," Professor Oak said, confusing Ash. What could have happened that resulted in him fainting?

Ash froze as he remembered what happened.

"Is there still a starter left?" Ash all but shouted as he sprung to his feet.

"You slept for almost two hours, Ash. You must not have gotten much sleep last night," Professor Oak said, undeterred by Ash's frantic question.

"Yeah. I stayed up until past midnight trying to choose which starter I would pick," Ash replied.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that now," Professor Oak noted.

"Right! There's only one starter left-"

"Correction: there are no starters left," Professor Oak interrupted. "Another kid just took the Bulbasaur. You just missed her."

"Oh. I guess I should just go home?" Ash asked, dejected.

"Well, to anyone else, I would say that. But you're a good kid, Ash. And it was mostly my fault that your house lost power."

"What? How?"

"Well," the Professor said, "remember that Pikachu that you helped catch a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah."

"He was acting lethargic, so I took him to the local power plant and lost sight of him for a little bit. The little bugger went back to his wire chewing habits."

Ash barely held in his laughter. "You left a Pikachu unsupervised in a power plant? You really are getting old."

"I am not going senile, Ash. I am as sharp as ever."

"Riiiiiight. So that's why I smell burning food."

Professor Oak froze, and then ran to the kitchen. "My meatloaf!"

A few minutes later, Professor Oak returned smelling like smoke. Ash opened his mouth to jest at him, but Professor Oak cut him off with a warning glare.

"I set up your Pokédex and got your pokeballs already. Here's the little terror who toasted my meatloaf," Professor Oak said, handing the mentioned items to Ash. "You might want to change into your clothes, too."

Ash was about to release Pikachu from its pokeball, as was traditional, when he paused.

"Wait. Where's Riolu?"

"Oh, he's somewhere in the ranch. He got awfully bored, waiting here for you to wake up, and so he just left. You also should probably find him before you leave, now that I think of it."

Ash sighed. Riolu could be so impatient at times.

Ash released Pikachu, and took it in. He finally had his starter. His journey was finally beginning!

"Oh, you're the best of the bunch!" Ash exclaimed, leaning in to hug Pikachu.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Riolu watched the lab from the top of a tree, wondering if Ash was awake yet. He was quite bored, and he wanted for the journey to start, already. If only something would happen-

His train of thought was brought to a crashing halt when huge amounts of electricity sparked from the lab, and Ash's signature scream emanated from the building.

Was Ash really so unlucky to get that Pikachu as a starter? What happened to the Bulbasaur? The Bulbasaur was nice.

Riolu went back to the lab.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

When the electrocution was over, Ash resolved to never hug Pikachu again.

"Wow, Ash. You got fried worse than my meatloaf. I didn't even know that was possible!"

Ash heard Riolu come in through the door. Finally! Somebody who would stick up for him-

Riolu took one look at the scene, and started laughing.

Ash sighed. Today was not his lucky day.

Ash picked himself up slowly.

"I suppose I should go back home now to get my clothes and my stuff."

"Instead of making you walk all the way back home, I'll give you a ride. Alakazam," Professor Oak said while letting his Alakazam out, "please teleport these three back to Ash's house."

Alakazam did so, and thus Ash, Riolu and a rather irate Pikachu suddenly appeared in front of Ash's house.

While Ash changed upstairs in his room, Riolu and Pikachu stayed with Delia.

Pikachu really loved the nice woman, and even permitted her to hug him. Pikachu resolved to at least travel with the boy, if only to not let the woman down. (What was the boy's name? Dust? Cinder? Ember? Soot? Something like that.)

Eventually, Ash finished changing into his clothes and came downstairs.

"Hey, Ash. Why isn't Pikachu in its pokeball?" Delia asked. "Not that I mind, but it's a little unusual."

Ash was about to answer that he didn't think of it when he noticed that Pikachu, who was so comfortable around his mom, froze up at the question. Ash realized quickly that Pikachu must not like being in a pokeball, and decided to cover for him.

"Um, well, Professor Oak said that Pikachu hates his pokeball." Ash replied.

"Oh, okay. Sorry for asking, Pikachu."

Pikachu relaxed upon hearing this. So the nice woman hadn't meant to be mean, and Soot was surprisingly kind and more than a little thoughtful. Maybe he got lucky and got a good trainer. That'd be nice.

Pikachu hopped off of Delia's shoulder and on to the floor next to Ash. He would try his best to keep Dust safe so he wouldn't let nice woman down. That definitely didn't mean that he would have to listen to (or even completely trust) Charcoal.

Seemingly escorted by his two Pokémon, Ash turned and walked towards the front door. He reached out to the doorknob, trying to quash the sense of nervousness he felt. He was going on his journey, and it was far too late to turn back now. Overcoming his nervousness, Ash gripped the doorknob.

"Ash! Wait!"

Ash turned to see Delia holding an old book with intimidating leather covers.

"Your father wanted you to have this. He said that he couldn't really use it, but he hoped that you could."

Ash took the book and opened it, expecting there to be some sort of magical effect or something like a magic beam or a spell book or something of the sort.

Absolutely nothing happened. The book didn't even have any words on the pages; they were all blank. It was a little disappointing, Ash thought, as he brushed his hand against the old pages. It was almost like it was a joke-

A blue spark jumped from his hand to the book, startling Ash into jumping back and dropping the book. What just happened?

Ash picked up the book, and not wanting more of whatever just happened, put it in his pack.

"You won't be able to do anything with it right now, but you'll know when you need it," Delia said cryptically.

"Alright... Bye, mom!" Ash said, giving Delia a hug.

Ash left his house proudly, a new chapter of his life beginning. Delia and her Mr. Mime stood at the door, waving him off.

"Don't forget to change your underwear, Ash!" Delia shouted.

Ash, hearing this, tripped over his feet in surprise and embarrassment and fell on his face. Riolu and Pikachu just laughed at their trainer's misfortune, prompting Ash to sigh. This was certainly not his day.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

The trio walked down Route One, the shortest route in Kanto. (It was just over twice the distance between Ash's house and Professor Oak's lab. Ash could run most of it on a good day.)

Ash noticed that Pikachu, who was lagging behind considerably, seemed distrustful of him and Riolu. He didn't actually know how he guessed that, but decided to call it intuition. He came up with an idea.

"How about we have a mock battle?"

The setup was simple. Ash, using Pikachu, would battle Riolu.

Before the battle started, Ash pulled Pikachu aside.

"Hey, Pikachu. I have a plan."

Ash explained his plan to Pikachu, making sure to be quiet enough that Riolu wouldn't hear.

The two Pokémon stood on opposite sides of the makeshift battlefield, Ash standing behind Pikachu. A breeze rustled the patches of tall grass and shrubs dotting the battlefield, as the late afternoon sun cast shadows from the overgrown plants.

"Alright! My first battle! Pikachu, use..." Ash started. "Wait. I don't actually know your moves."

Recovering from his embarrassment, Ash pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at Pikachu. Ash pressed the scan button and the Pokédex duly scanned the Pikachu in front of it.

 **Pikachu, the Electric Mouse Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pichu.**

 **These Pokémon are commonly found in forests away from major cities, although they can be found almost anywhere in Japan. They live in groups and eat mostly fruit and berries, even occasionally roasting Apricorns with electricity to make them edible. The small electricity pouches on a Pikachu's cheeks recharge while it sleeps and sometimes discharge electricity upon the Pokémon's waking. They enjoy eating wires, so much so that it has become a popular adage to never leave a Pikachu alone in a power plant.**

 **This is your starter Pokémon. It knows the moves Tackle, Quick Attack, and Thunder Shock. It has the abilities Static and Lightning rod.**

Ash looked over Pikachu's moveset with a bit of surprise. It was a bit underwhelming to see a Pokémon that didn't even know four moves yet, but Ash supposed that even the stars had to start somewhere. Even Red, his father and famous Pokémon Master, was once a bright-eyed kid with a Charmander walking down Route One.

It was a little bit humbling, even 12 years after his death, to walk the same ground that he walked on.

Ash snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Pikachu give a fake yawn out of boredom.

"Alright. Let's do this thing for real!" Ash exclaimed, preparing for the battle. "Pikachu, start it off with a tackle!"

Pikachu heard the order and elected to ignore it with a smirk and a quick attack aimed at Riolu. The yellow mouse ran at Riolu so fast that it left a white trail. The impact was hard enough for Riolu to be knocked back a little, but he quickly got up and rushed Pikachu.

"Dodge to the right!"

Pikachu ignored this order too, and dodged to the left. This, unfortunately, made it easier for Riolu's right fist, which was coming from Pikachu's left, to connect.

Pikachu went flying back with the hit, but got up a little shakily. His chest was stinging and would certainly bruise, and he had the breath knocked out of him, but he could continue. Pikachu resolved to listen to Dust more, though. Soot seemed to have Pikachu's best interests in mind, and eyes from another perspective in the battle could end up being helpful.

Ash decided to try another approach in the battle. Close-range against a fighting type, even one as inexperienced as Riolu, was a bad idea with anything but a perfectly obedient Pokémon that could out speed the fighting type. Pikachu was certainly fast, but without dodging consistently in the right direction, that speed was worthless.

Pikachus are good at two things, Ash recalled from Trainer's Ed. The first one that Ash remembered was to skirt around larger and stronger enemies and attack at weak points. That one obviously didn't work. So what else were Pikachus good at? Long range.

"Pikachu, keep your distance!"

Pikachu liked this plan better. The Pokédex might claim that the only long-range attack that he had was Thunder Shock, but, in his opinion, it was on the verge of becoming Thunderbolt.

Needless to say, he was quite good at using electricity.

Riolu came in for another attack, but Pikachu, at Ash's command, dodged to the right. Riolu swung his fist, but overbalanced and nearly fell when he missed.

Ash saw the opportunity and took it. "Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!"

Pikachu leapt up into the air, electricity surrounding the electric mouse's body. A few moments later, with the attack fully charged, a few tendrils of electricity shot out. The biggest and strongest one hit Riolu, but the other smaller ones hit random other things, like Pidgeys and Spearows. If it was perfectly focused, all of the tendrils combined as one, it would be much stronger. But then it would be called Thunderbolt, not Thunder Shock.

The electric attack took out a significant portion of Riolu's endurance, to the point where both Pokémon were about equal in terms of remaining stamina.

Ash surveyed the scene. Pikachu was breathing heavily, obviously quite tired. Riolu was moving a little sluggishly as a result of the Thunder Shock, but was still in the fight. It was down to the wire.

Riolu leapt in for his own quick attack, opting to end the fight before Pikachu could get another attack in.

"Pikachu! Now!" Ash shouted, knowing that the attack would be too fast for even the much faster Pikachu to dodge.

Pikachu surrounded himself with electricity, just like he did a few minutes earlier. But instead of attempting to attack something going much too fast for Pikachu to hit, Pikachu just sustained the electricity coursing around his body for the half second it took for Riolu to slam into Pikachu.

Pikachu went flying with the super-fast tackle, and landed heavily. He skidded a significant amount, before hitting a small rock and being flipped into the air again. Pikachu hit the ground again, and rolled quickly down the field before coming to a stop. He got up shakily, stumbling and almost falling again before standing up fully. Pikachu surprised himself by getting up from that attack, but knew that he wouldn't be able to get up after another hit.

Pikachu was ready to accept his defeat, because while he could still fight, Riolu could run faster at this point. All it would take to knock him out was just one more attack. Pikachu had little doubt that Riolu could pull off another attack. This was looking just like last time.

Almost the exact same thing had happened last time, the time he had been captured. It was about a week ago, Pikachu remembered. Pikachu got in one quick attack before having his rear end neatly served to him by a punch/quick attack combo that left him weak enough to be caught by the claustrophobia-inducing devices called pokeballs. Pikachu shuddered just at the thought of being in one. He just hated small spaces.

Listening to Charcoal had got him further against Riolu, but it wasn't enough. It was never enough; he was always too weak to succeed.

Dreading the inevitable, Pikachu looked up at Riolu. What he saw surprised him and reinvigorated him; Riolu was paralyzed.

Pikachu didn't really understand Slag's request for Pikachu to power himself up right before Riolu would hit him. When he saw that Riolu was paralyzed, he realized that powering himself up increased the strength of his ability Static. Pikachu recalled that Static made it so anything contacting Pikachu had a chance of getting paralyzed. (Thankfully for Powder, it didn't work through clothes.) Powering himself up must have increased the odds of that happening.

Pikachu powered himself up for the finishing attack. He wanted the battle to go out with a bang, as a sort of retaliation for putting him in the pokeball. Pikachu jumped high into the air and surrounded himself with electricity. As the attack was ready, Pikachu concentrated intensely on focusing the attack on Riolu. Instead of many separate tendrils branching out from the small mouse, one large branch sprouted from the source and quickly approached the immobile Riolu.

Riolu, completely paralyzed, could only widen his eyes as the Thunderbolt approached him. The bolt of electricity caused a small explosion on impact that scared some nearby bird Pokémon off.

When the attack ended, the temporary electric currents suspending him in the air dissipated and Pikachu fell to the ground. Pikachu landed neatly, but stumbled and almost fell. That attack took a lot out of him, Pikachu thought, as he fainted and finally fell.

Ash surveyed the scene in shock. That was quite a battle, and he would say he did pretty well for a first time.

The only sound in the empty field, completely abandoned by the local wild Pokémon during the fight, was a notification on his Pokédex.

 **Pikachu has learned the move Thunderbolt!**

The ice broken by the Pokédex, Ash rummaged around in his bag before pulling out two Super Potions, a Paralyze Heal, and two Revive Pills. Ash regarded the Revive Pills with a combination of disgust and thankfulness. He would hate to be on the receiving end of the foul tasting medicine, but it was certainly better than just carrying the two unconscious Pokémon. And who knows? Pikachu or Riolu might like the bitter taste.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Neither Pikachu nor Riolu liked the taste of the Revive Pill, but they did enjoy the feeling of being healed by the sprays. Pikachu wasn't a fan of the Super Potion's taste, though, when he accidentally got some in his mouth.

The trio was walking down the path calmly. Ash noted happily that Pikachu was making sure to keep up, trusting Ash and Riolu more. Ash just took this as more proof that there was nothing that a good Pokémon battle couldn't fix.

Ash stopped as he realized something.

"Wait. I never scanned Riolu!" He said to himself, face palming.

Ash pointed the Pokédex at Riolu, who had stopped walking, and pressed the scan button. The Pokédex scanned the Riolu standing in front of it.

 **Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon.**

 **Many Pokémon, and even some humans, can learn to use and manipulate Aura with many years of practice. Riolu, along with its evolved form Lucario, on the other hand, are known for being able to manipulate Aura instinctively. Riolus are quite flexible and powerful, and present in many myths and legends from around their native Sinnoh. One legend states that a Riolu, having to get to its distressed friends, crested three mountains and crossed two valleys in one night. This legend seems more believable if one sees a well-trained Riolu in action. They use Aura to communicate their emotions to their allies over long distances. Not much else is known about this otherwise rare and elusive Pokémon.**

 **This is your Pokémon. It knows the moves Foresight, Quick Attack, Endure, Counter, and Force Palm. It has the abilities Steadfast, Inner Focus, and Prankster.**

The scan complete, Ash put his Pokédex back on his belt and continued walking.

It was really serene out here. The hints of a sunset had just begun to appear, and a breeze rustled the tall grass and the shrubs. The trees all had blossoms, a consequence of it being spring. A gust of wind blew some of the flower petals off the flowers. Ash could hear Spearows singing merrily. There was one on the branch, there!

Ash started to walk past it, remembered something and stopped.

"Wait. Pikachu, didn't your Thunder Shock attack hit a few Spearow?"

Pikachu and Riolu also stopped walking.

"Pi Pikachu ka?" Pikachu asked frantically, eyes wide. Ash didn't understand it, of course, but he got the basic idea.

Hearing a loud caw behind them, the trio turned and saw a large flock of Spearow flying towards them at top speed from a distance away. The Spearow perched near them stared at them with icy black eyes, as if daring them to stay and fight.

Ash and his two Pokémon did the only sensible thing in their current situation. They turned and ran down the path.

Ash noticed that the sun was setting. Ash remembered something from Trainer's Ed.

"Pikachu! Riolu! Spearows are diurnal, they'll head back to their nests when the sun sets!"

Pikachu and Riolu nodded while running. They only had to survive for the hour or two until it got dark.

As fast as they could run, the much faster flying Pokémon were just on their heels in minutes. Ash cursed the winds that had made the landscape look so pretty just minutes before, the winds that were letting the Spearows catch up to the fleeing group so easily.

A particularly strong gust of wind enabled the flock to catch up completely. Ash closed his eyes and tried his best to cover his face and neck with his hands, as an assault of pecking and clawing commenced.

Ash blindly ran, trying to escape. Each Spearow was actually pretty weak, but combined they were strong. So strong, in fact, that they would eventually kill Ash.

Would this be how it ended? To a flock of small, weak birds?

It was completely unfair, Ash thought. He hadn't even had a day of being a trainer. He had woken up late because a Pikachu had eaten some cables, he got said Pikachu as a starter, and now he was being swarmed by a flock of Spearow because of that Pikachu. Ash knew he shouldn't be bitter, and he knew that it certainly wasn't Pikachu's fault, but Ash was certainly human.

Everybody had feelings, and Ash certainly had them too. He might hide them, (he would never admit it, but he had wanted to punch Gary in the face for a year now) but he still had them. And being a Pokémon trainer had been Ash's greatest dream. He had always wanted to live up to the great expectations placed on him as the child of Red. Even though Ash couldn't remember a single time he had ever seen his father, he still wanted to be just like him.

But joining his father in wherever people go when they die would probably be better anyway, Ash thought bitterly.

Ash was so entrenched in his quite depressing train of thought that he didn't realize that he had ran over a small cliff until he started falling. The Spearow wisely didn't follow the falling boy, deciding that he would likely die anyway.

Ash bounced off rock after rock, taking a nasty blow to the head that knocked him out. When the cliff turned into a hill, the unconscious boy rolled downhill and into a river. By some miracle, he was floating face up and could breathe. The rushing waters carried the trainer downstream for an hour or so before he got stuck in some shallows.

The sun set and Ash woke up.

Seeing that the sun had set, Ash pulled out his flashlight and clicked it on.

Although he survived being attacked by a horde of Spearow and falling off of a cliff, Ash's prognosis looked grim. He was completely lost somewhere between Viridian and Pallet Town, it was night, and he was separated from his Pokémon.

Ash really doubted that he would survive to make it to Viridian.

Ash was about to set off in a random direction, when he remembered that he had a compass in his backpack. Ash slung the backpack off his shoulders, grateful that he had sprung for the waterproof pack, and opened it.

Ash immediately noticed a blue glow coming from somewhere inside his backpack. He rummaged through it, looking for the source of the glow.

Moving around clothes, gear, potions, and antidotes, Ash finally found the source of the glow. The old book that his mom gave him was glowing a bright blue.

Ash pulled the book out of his pack. The whole thing wasn't glowing, but only a single page near the center was.

Ash, against his better judgement, opened the book to that page. When he saw what was on the page, he nearly dropped the book in shock. A handprint, one that matched his had exactly, was on the center of the page. It was pulsing with a strange blue power.

Ash tentatively put his hand on the handprint, watching with fascination as a blue spark jumped from the page to his hand. The blue seemed to bleed out from the handprint, filling tiny little indentations in the page and forming complex symbols. The light died down, and Ash flipped to other pages. They were filled with writing!

Ash flipped to the first page, seeing another handprint. Text around the handprint said that the handprint would only work in a time of dire need.

"Well," Ash said to himself, "I guess that this counts as a time of dire need."

Ash put his hand on the handprint, and waited. Nothing happened. Maybe the book didn't know how to help him?

"I need to find my friends."

Still, nothing happened.

Ash concentrated, stressing every syllable. "I need to find my friends."

Absolutely nothing happened.

Ash read the text on the page carefully. Apparently, he had to speak in Iambic Pentameter for it to work. Inwardly, Ash groaned. He was never good at poetry.

Ash knew exactly what that kind of poetry was. And he hated it.

An Iamb (pronounced "eye-amb") was a term that meant a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (something like "HE needs"). An Iambic Pentameter was five of those in a line. It was poetry, the kind that famous playwrights used in plays like _Romeo and Juliet_.

Ash really hated poetry, but it looked like he had no choice.

"I need your help to find my friends tonight."

Something happened at this. The blue light that lit up the letters seeped to the handprint. As the light left the letters, they faded and became invisible, just like before. The light seeped up Ash's arm, and faded into his body.

"That... was strange."

Ash mentally tested himself for new powers. Could he fly? No. Did he have super strength? Certainly not. Did he have heat vision? Nope.

Ash closed his eyes and sighed. What did the book give him? What was some fancy blue light going to help him with?

Ash kept his eyes closed to try and stem the flow of tears that was coming. He never wanted to die. It wasn't fair, this happening to him on his first day!

When the blue light seeping through his eyelids polarized into an image of what was around him, Ash opened his eyes in shock. He knew for a fact that he couldn't do... well, whatever that was before!

Ash closed his eyes again and concentrated. He could see the trees around him, but they were dim. He could see the sap flowing through the trees, which was cool, but that wouldn't help him.

Ash scanned the surroundings for anything of importance. He saw a bright dot in the distance, and wondered what it was. Suddenly, Ash remembered part of the Pokédex entry for Riolu: **They use Aura to communicate their emotions to their allies over long distances**. Ash didn't know very much about this strange ability, but that little dot looked pretty scared.

Ash turned to walk calmly towards that dot. No need to panic, everything would be fine.

The dot flickered and dimmed ominously.

Ash swore and started running. Now would be a pretty good time to panic.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Pikachu struggled through the undergrowth. It was night now, the Spearow had left. That didn't really help him that much, though. He was tired, bruised, and lost. He had failed his trainer, and got separated from him. Pikachu was really Dust's best bet against those Spearow, and what had he done? He hadn't even tried. He just turned and ran.

Pikachu was really feeling guilty.

Pikachu also was feeling quite tired. What time was it? It couldn't be too late, the sun had just set. He shouldn't fall asleep quite yet, though. He had to find his trainer, to try and atone for his mistake.

That is, if his trainer was even still alive, Pikachu thought grimly, his tail drooping to the ground.

Suddenly, an old and gnarled rope caught around his tail and snagged him up in a classic hunter's trap. By the looks of it, it was abandoned. Unfortunately, that meant that he was likely stuck there, hanging upside down by his tail, until the rope broke.

Pikachu sighed. This was as good a place as any to stew in his guilt, he supposed.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Ash ran towards the dimming dot as fast as he could, convinced that it was either Riolu or Pikachu.

It looked like the dot was almost extinguished, but Ash soon realized that everything was dimming. He couldn't see the sap flowing through the trees anymore, everything was blurry.

Ash opened his eyes as he crashed through the last of the undergrowth, expecting to see some horrific sight. All he saw was Riolu, conked out on the ground and snoring.

"Riolu, return."

Well, Ash technically had a Pokémon on him, but a sleeping Riolu wouldn't do him much good against, well, anything.

Ash closed his eyes and concentrated, just like last time. Unlike last time, the image took much longer to form and was much dimmer. Ash could feel his energy being sapped as he looked around for Pikachu. Ash only barely managed to find the (thankfully, much closer) dot that was likely Pikachu before the whole image flickered, dimmed alarmingly, and blurred out before disappearing altogether.

Ash turned and walked in that direction, but didn't get far before bumping into an angry Bulbasaur.

"Bulba! Bul Bulba Saur!" The saurian said, motioning towards Riolu's pokeball.

Ash knelt down to the Bulbasaur's level.

"Do you know Riolu?" Ash asked, trying to guess what the Bulbasaur was trying to say.

"Saur Bulba Bul!"

"He's my friend, I won't hurt him."

"Bul Saur Bulb!"

"Riolu is asleep right now though, I don't think that he'd appreciate being woken up."

The Bulbasaur was about to protest again, but he saw the ancient book sticking out of the human's backpack. Narrowing his eyes, Bulbasaur darted off into the undergrowth and resolved to follow the boy and Riolu.

Ash stood up, and continued walking towards Pikachu. Without any more use of the ability that the book gave him, Ash only had the general direction that Pikachu was in.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Pikachu was thoroughly bored. Even though it had only been a few minutes, it felt like an eternity. Nothing was moving, nothing was making any sound, and nothing was happening.

"Pikachu! Where are you?" Pikachu heard Ash call.

It was almost too good to be true! His trainer wasn't dead! He wasn't going to starve to death in this old trap! Everything would be okay!

"Pikachu! Yell if you can hear me!"

Pikachu replied with a loud yell.

With this simplified form of echolocation, Ash slowly but surely got closer to Pikachu.

Finally, Ash came across where Pikachu was caught in the trap. Biting his cheek to not laugh at Pikachu's predicament, Ash walked over and got out his pocket knife, cutting through the old rope.

Pikachu, not expecting to be freed so quickly, fell to the ground and landed on his face. Recovering quickly, as per the requirements of his pride, Pikachu got up and jumped onto Ash's shoulder with a happy "Pikapi!"

Ash put his pocket knife away, and started walking, with Pikachu riding on his shoulder, back towards the nearby Route One. It looked like that they were close to Viridian city. They might actually make it there in time for a late dinner!

A short walk later, Ash and Pikachu arrived at a hill overlooking Viridian City.

"We made it, Pikachu!"

 **"** **You know, maybe you aren't so bad after all,"** Pikachu said, making Ash freeze.

"Pikachu, can you repeat what you just said, please?"

"Pika pi chu, ka pi chu pika ka chu?" Pikachu repeated, confused.

"Alright. I think that I might be going insane. I thought that I heard you speaking Japanese the first time."

Pikachu looked at Ash weirdly, considering his options. He could run for his life and hope for the best, or he could stay. Eventually, the slightly insane part of him won out. If Ash was insane, then insanity sure worked. What's the worst that could happen?

Ash noticed a few drops of rain falling. Was it about to storm?

"Fearow!"

Ash turned to see a lone Fearow charging him and Pikachu.

"Look out!" Ash shouted as he dove to the side, just avoiding the deadly beak and talons.

Ash and Pikachu both sprung to their feet, the adrenaline flowing through their bloodstreams revving up their tired bodies.

"Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu jumped into the air, preparing the electric attack. Unfortunately, the Fearow was faster, hitting the mouse with a wing attack.

Pikachu went flying, and landed behind Ash. He tried to get back it up, but couldn't. He was just too tired. Too weak. Too useless.

Lightning cracked as the Fearow used a wing attack on Ash. Thunder rumbled as Ash was tossed around helplessly by the bird before being flung onto the ground.

"Pikachu... Pikachu, you have to get up." Ash weakly said.

Pikachu, egged on by Ash's encouragement and the gravity of the situation, slowly got up, struggling against both gravity and his own tired body. Ash, too, got up slowly. They weren't willing to give up.

The Fearow, seeing this, came in for a drill peck. Pikachu prepared to head it off with a Thunderbolt, but was beat to the punch.

"Rapid Spin!"

A Staryu seemingly came out of nowhere, spinning rapidly, before hitting the Fearow and stopping the drill peck.

Ash turned around, looking for the trainer who ordered the Staryu into action.

Behind him was a girl with orange hair, but Ash couldn't really tell much else about her in the dark.

The Fearow, now thoroughly enraged, used a double edge on the Staryu. The starfish flew back and hit the other trainer.

Thunder cracked again, complementing the sound of the now pouring rain. What were the benefits of rain? Electric attacks almost certainly couldn't miss.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu smirked. In this electric storm, he could do one better.

Jumping into the air, Pikachu started to charge a thunderbolt. But instead of using it when it was fully charged, Pikachu held the attack in. Suspended above the ground by the Earth's natural magnetic field, thanks to the electric currents coursing over his fur, Pikachu waited as the electric potential between him and the clouds grew. His fur, which naturally resisted electricity, started to stand on end.

It was unsafe, and potentially deadly, to summon a bolt of lightning on purpose, but Pikachu sure knew how.

The Fearow, enraged beyond reason, charged the Pikachu.

The electric potential between Pikachu and the clouds hit a tipping point.

A powerful Giga Impact streaked towards the little mouse, at the same time that a bolt of lightning erupted from the clouds. Two yellow streaks were heading towards the little electric mouse, each potentially deadly to said mouse in their own way. Unfortunately for the Fearow, it was significantly slower than the lighting.

The powerful bolt of electricity, enough electricity to power a megacity for weeks, surged into the little mouse, instantly overcharging its electricity pouches. Pikachu couldn't have held that much electricity in if he tried. Good thing he wasn't trying to.

All of the stored energy from the lightning speared out from Pikachu, hitting the unfortunate Fearow and instantly knocking it out.

However, the extreme power was too much for Pikachu to control. Offshoot bolts of electricity started shooting out from Pikachu, hitting various objects like trees or the other trainer's bike. It was almost like a supercharged thunder shock.

As suddenly as it started, the attack ended. Pikachu landed hard, coughed up a small cloud of smoke, and collapsed.

Everything was a blur from then. Pikachu barely registered being picked up, carried for a while, and being put in a soft tray. The tray was rushed to some room, and all Pikachu could think about was how soft the cushions on the tray were. This would be a perfect time to take a nap...

The small yellow mouse closed its eyes as a Chansey frantically hooked up various pieces of medical equipment.

Satisfied that the Pikachu was stable, the Chansey went to run the trainer's other Pokémon, thankfully in a pokeball and _not_ in critical condition, through the restoration machine.

Seemingly the moment the Chansey stepped out of the room, the heart monitor, which was previously beeping regularly, let out a long _beeeeeeep_ before going silent.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

With a flash of gold, Ho-Oh flew through the clouds above Viridian City. Sensing something, the god turned and started to circle around the local Pokémon center.

A Pokémon died in a Pokémon center. Normally, Ho-Oh wouldn't care about such triviality, but this case was special.

As the patron god of martyrs, Ho-Oh was known for resurrecting, or otherwise blessing, those who sacrifice themselves selflessly for a cause.

It had been a while since Ho-Oh last resurrected a Pokémon; nearly 150 years, in fact. Ho-Oh hadn't done that anymore since then, as the other gods disliked it when he did so.

This case, however, was just too good to resist.

Cawing loudly, Ho-Oh sent a beam of light, invisible to all but himself, into Pikachu's body.

Satisfied with his work, Ho-Oh flew away.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"Would Ash Ketchum please come to the front desk?" Nurse Joy's voice came on over the intercom in the Pokémon Center said.

It had been a stressful night. A new trainer's Pikachu had a close brush with death, which was always tiring, if nothing else. Nurse Joy also had to deal with a few snotty brats today, as today was the day that trainers started their journeys. While a few trainers went to Pallet Town to start their journeys, trying to follow in the footsteps of the legendary trainer Red, most just bought a starter themselves and went to a Pokémon Center to register.

Nurse Joy shook herself out of her thoughts when she saw the boy walking up to the desk.

"How're my Pokémon, Nurse Joy?"

Nurse Joy took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Your Pokémon are resting right now. Your Pikachu came very close to dying, and would have if you were any slower in getting here. He'll be clear to leave the Intensive Care Ward in about a week."

"Chansey! Chan-Chansey!" Chansey injected.

Nurse Joy looked over to Chansey, a little surprised. What could be happening?

"Excuse me for a bit. I need to go check something." She excused herself and went over to Chansey.

Chansey was beckoning frantically towards the Intensive Care Ward, causing the Nurse to walk faster. What could be happening?

A few minutes later, the nurse was back at the desk.

"Sorry about that, I just had to check on something. It's actually looking like your Pikachu would be ready to leave now, but we want to keep him in there for a few hours. Just to make sure he stays stable, of course."

"Alright! Thank you, Nurse Joy!" The boy gushed. He was a nice kid.

"Here's your Riolu, by the way." Nurse Joy said, handing him the pokeball.

The moment she did, an air raid siren went off and Officer Jenny's voice came on over the intercom.

"Be advised, there is an unidentified aircraft in Viridian airspace. It is flying low, just above the buildings. While we work to identify it, avoid stepping outside and avoid skylights for the time being."

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Ash was a little surprised when the siren went off, sure, but he was much more surprised when people came crashing in through the skylight, followed quickly by a smokescreen. As they landed deftly on their feet, the smoke continued pouring in through the hole in the ceiling.

Soon, the smoke all dissipated, revealing two young adults. One, a boy, had short blue hair. The other one, a girl, had long pink hair that spiraled in on itself in a way that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

There was also a Meowth standing on two legs. How strange.

Reacting quickly, Nurse Joy pressed the silent alarm button, which alerted the police office and locked all of the staff-only doors. She would need to use her key card to go through those doors now.

"Prepare for trouble!" The girl started.

"And make it double!" The boy answered.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"And it's James!"

"Team Rocket, stealing from centers in the dead of the night!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" The Meowth finished.

A short silence ensued, the thieves staring at the shocked trainer.

Okay, sure, it was Team Rocket. That was bad, but a talking Meowth? Really? On his first day? Ash couldn't think of anybody else who had such a crazy first day.

"Ekans!"

"Koffing!"

Jessie and James threw their pokeballs, releasing an Ekans and a Koffing.

"Well, twerp, better give up your Pokémon then. It would be a shame if you got hurt." Jessie said, intimidating Ash.

"Not a chance!" Ash said, steeling himself. Sure, he was practically fighting against the local mafia, but he was doing it to protect his friends. "Riolu, I choose you!"

Ash threw his pokeball, releasing Riolu.

Riolu landed with a cry and quickly got into a battle stance.

"Ekans, use Constrict!"

The long purple snake launched itself at Riolu, intent on coiling around him.

"Don't let it get you, Riolu! Dodge it and use Force Palm!"

Riolu smartly obeyed Ash's instructions to the letter, resulting in a bruised snake being flung back across the lobby.

"Ekans, Pin Missile!"

The unhappy snake opened its mouth, releasing a barrage of little missiles.

"Riolu, dodge it with Quick Attack!"

The little blue Pokémon used a Quick Attack, seemingly vanishing a full second before the barrage of little missiles hit the ground. A few afterimages appeared of Riolu running around Ekans, before Riolu slammed into Ekans at top speed.

"Now! Ekans, use Constrict!"

Ash widened his eyes. "Riolu, get out of there!"

It was too late. Ekans wrapped itself around Riolu, squeezing as hard as it could.

Ash watched helplessly as Riolu was squeezed by the incapacitating attack, before getting an idea.

"Use Force Palm on the ground!"

Riolu tried to maneuver so he could strike the ground but couldn't. Ekans was squeezing him too hard to move that much.

"Riolu, try using your foot!"

Something clicked in Riolu's head. Of course he could use his foot!

To use Force Palm, the user must push out a spike of Aura, usually in tandem with a punch. Why couldn't Riolu do that with a kick?

Riolu lifted his foot as much as he could while being wrapped, and slammed it to the ground. The moment his foot hit the ground, he forced a spike of Aura out of his foot. The fancy tile floor cracked under Riolu's attack.

Normally, even a much larger opponent would be launched back by the strong attack. The Earth, however, was far too large for Riolu to launch, even only by an inch. Instead, Riolu launched himself into the air, with the same principal of jumping. Only it was hundreds of times stronger.

Riolu shot out from Ekans' grasp and landed some distance away.

"Koffing! Tackle!"

The floating ball of gas, previously floating in place, decided to join the action by trying to fly into Riolu.

"Riolu, use Counter!"

Unable to dodge Koffing's attack, Riolu used the energy of the tackle to punch Koffing back to the Rocket Agents.

Instinctively, Koffing let out a smokescreen, clouding the lobby. The fire alarm went off, overriding the locks on the doors.

Suddenly, the Meowth jumped out of the smoke and delivered a powerful slash to Riolu's face.

Riolu bravely held on after taking that surprise attack, but Ash knew that Riolu wouldn't be able to fight much more.

"Ash! This way, please!" Nurse Joy said.

Ash quickly returned Riolu, turned, and ran to Nurse Joy.

"In here! I need your help!"

Ash followed Nurse Joy through a doorframe behind the desk. After Ash ran through the door, Nurse Joy closed a panic door behind them. Team Rocket, for all their fancy gadgets, wouldn't be able to get through this door.

Nurse Joy quickly led Ash through the building, cutting through the Intensive Care Ward to get to the pokeball storage room.

"I don't like saying this, but your Pikachu is healthy enough to fight if need be. Check on him for me, then meet me at this room."

Ash nodded and went back into the Intensive Care Ward.

"Pikapi!" Ash's Pikachu cried out happily, jumping at Ash.

"Hi, Pikachu! Are you feeling okay?"

Pikachu replied with presumably an affirmative and jumped on Ash's shoulder.

Ash went back to Nurse Joy.

"You found your Pikachu? Good. We just need to send these pokeballs to other Pokémon Centers so Team Rocket can't steal them."

"Alright." Ash said, agreeing. It would be inconvenient for trainers to have to wait to get their Pokémon, but it would be worse for Team Rocket to get them.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

James sighed. The lock on the door was too tough to hack into, and he didn't think to bring any explosives. It looked like they wouldn't be getting very far anytime soon.

"That Riolu was pretty strong. It beat up Ekans pretty good." Jessie commented.

"Yeah, Koffing probably couldn't take any more powerful hits." James agreed. "I should be careful in using him, it would be bad if he spontaneously combusted again."

"Are you two kidding? Dat little Pokémon nearly crumpled under a single slash!" Meowth protested. "A few more seconds, and he would've been toast!"

"It was three against one, Meowth. If it was only you, you would've been the one almost fainting." James argued.

"Yeah, but why did he have a Riolu on his first day? This is Kanto, not Sinnoh." Jessie questioned. "Is he some sort of 'Chosen One' or something?"

"I hope not, Jessie. That would end pretty poorly for us if he is."

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

While feeding pokeballs into the machine with the help of Pikachu, Riolu, and Nurse Joy, Ash had a sneezing fit.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"Did you hear that, guys? I think somebody was sneezing." James said.

"Was it that kid?"

"I think it was."

The trio froze. If what this implied was true, then...

"Chosen One." James said, listening for a sneeze.

There was a sneeze.

"Well, that's bad. Should we cut our losses and go?" Jessie said.

"Freeze!" Officer Jenny shouted as she barged into the Pokémon Center. "Put your hands over your heads!"

"Perhaps we should've cut our losses earlier?" James said.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"Are you okay, Ash?"

"Just got some dust in my nose. Some of these pokeballs are pretty old."

"Pokémon with chronic illnesses have to stay here all the time and we try to avoid returning them to their pokeballs."

The room shook as something exploded.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. Ash, can you find out what it was? I can finish putting these pokeballs through the machine."

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

When Ash opened the door behind the desk, he was nearly greeted with a face full of Stun Spore. Acting fast, Ash closed the door again. Thankfully, the designers of the Pokémon Center had foreseen such an event and made the panic door standing between Ash and the Stun Spore airtight.

Ash, wondering what to do, saw a red button labeled with a fan next to the door.

"Do you think that this button will clear the Stun Spore outside of the door?" Ash asked Pikachu and Riolu.

Not waiting for a response, Ash pressed the button and was honestly a little surprised when the door's airtight seal released and the Stun Spore rushed into their faces.

Paralyzed, Ash, Riolu, and Pikachu fell to the ground.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"Great job with that Stun Spore, Koffing! You really helped us get away!" James praised.

"Yeah. I don't want to think about what would happen if you didn't paralyze that officer!" Jessie chimed in.

"De Stun Spore did leak into the rest of the building." Meowth chimed in. "Do you guys dink dat it'll be okay?"

"It'll probably be fine." James said. "Stun Spore is temporary, jail is forever."

"Good, cause I got hit by some." Meowth said before falling over, paralyzed.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

In the end, everything was worked out. The police couldn't find the Team Rocket agents who attacked the Pokémon Center, but everything else was fine. Pikachu was perfectly healthy, and Ash reserved a room in the Pokémon Center (he would have to pay if he wasn't a trainer) and got a late dinner.

It wasn't really that late. In some places, people ate dinner as late as seven.

After getting his dinner, Ash went to the video phone booths and called his mom. Ash dialed his house's number, and, after some ringing, was picked up by his mom.

"Hi sweetie! You made it to Viridian?" Delia asked.

"Yeah!" Ash exclaimed. "I completed the first leg of my journey in one piece!"

"That's great!" Delia gushed. "You know, your father took four days to get to Viridian!"

That was the wrong thing to say, apparently, because the conversation took on a very solemn air.

"Ash, I have a very important question to ask you." Delia said seriously.

"What is it?"

Delia paused.

"Are you changing your underwear daily?" She asked.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Misty Waterflower groaned and opened her eyes. The Pikachu that shocked was very strong, she hoped that her bike...

Misty's train of thought stopped in its tracks when she saw her completely broken bike.

That kid she helped broke her bike.

He broke her bike.

Her bike was completely ruined.

She would find that kid.

 **. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Ash called Professor Oak next.

This time, the call was picked up rather promptly.

"Hello Ash! Delia called me; I heard that you made it to Viridian! As a matter of fact, I was just about to call you!"

"Hi, Professor!" Ash said. "Um..."

"What is it, Ash? Is there something on my face?"

"Well, I can't exactly _see_ your face." And it was true: the display on the video phone showed the back of the Professor's head.

"Oh! I must've turned on the wrong camera. Sorry, Ash!" Professor Oak said as he pressed a few buttons. In a few seconds, the view switched to the correct camera.

"Why do you even have a camera for the back of your head, anyway?" Ash asked.

"No reason-" Professor Oak started, but he was interrupted by the doorbell. "Oh! That must be my pizza!"

"You ordered pizza?" Ash asked, confused. There were no pizza places in Pallet Town.

"Yes, of course I did. After your little terror of a Pikachu toasted my meatloaf," The Professor said pointedly towards Pikachu, (Pikachu pouted at this) "I had nothing to eat. Of course delivery takes a while to get here from Viridian, but it's better than nothing!"

The doorbell rang again.

"Sorry, I have to go! Bye!"

Ash sighed and went to his room. It was time to get some sleep.

 **END CHAPTER**

 **Wow.**

 **I am extremely surprised with myself. I managed to write, including the chapter title, a chapter exactly 9000 words in length. That is about three times the longest chapter I've ever written.**

 **Also: I defend my time usage (it is 7:00 a while after sunset in the spring). Even in Southern Japan, where Kanto is located, the earliest sunset ever happens is about 5:00. In America, where I live, the usual time range for dinner is 5 to 7. Also, people usually go to bed a short time after sunset in America. I don't know if that carries over to other countries (sunset where I live during the summer is around 9:00).**

 **If you live in Japan and you read this, sorry if I completely butchered what you actually do.**

 **As those of you who read the original story (before the rewrite) should know, I like hiding hints. What are hints, you ask? Well, hints are, at least in my stories, hidden easter eggs that, if you find them, give you information about the story. Some might be unimportant to the plot but interesting little easter eggs, but others might be huge hints for the future of the story and the many plot twists I planned out.**

 **Don't just look for hints in the chapter body! I might include some hints in my Author Notes!**

 **I will never lie in an A/N, but I do love me a good red herring.**

 **Lastly, make sure to review! About 3% of you reviewed, which is 12 times the average rate in the original! These are exciting times to be alive!**

 **EDIT 9/6/2015: Fixed a typo in Pikachu's Pokedex entry. Thank you to the reviewers who pointed this out!**


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